Lavrov: We reject a new ceasefire without knowing what comes next

At a CSTO meeting in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Brussels of trying to buy time for Kyiv through an immediate ceasefire. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, meanwhile, wants to open all negotiating chapters with Ukraine and Moldova by the end of the year.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the joint meeting of the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers, Council of Defence Ministers and Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils in Moscow that all demands currently coming from Brussels and other EU capitals amounted to calls for an immediate ceasefire. He said European countries wanted this to buy time for Kyiv and replenish its military losses. “We will not agree to this,” Lavrov said.

In this excerpt, Lavrov explains Moscow’s position on the EU’s calls for a ceasefire.

“We will not agree to another truce, a ceasefire—call it what you will—without understanding what will happen next,” the minister stressed.

Merz: All negotiating chapters by the end of the year

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he wanted all negotiating chapters on Ukraine’s and Moldova’s accession to the EU to finally be opened, and expressed confidence that this could be achieved by the end of the year.